A new theoretical framework is offered in which the emphasis is on the learner as an active (versus passive) processor of to-be- remembered information. The learner is conceptualized as introspectively monitoring various kinds of subthreshold memories and using the results of that monitoring for the self-directed control of his or her acquisition and retrieval. The introspective monitoring processes include ease-of-learning judgments (prior to acquisition), judgments of learning (during acquisition and prior to a test of recall retention), and feeling-of-knowing judgments (after unsuccessful recall and prior to a subsequent retention test). The self-directed control processes during acquisition include the allocation of study time, and the self-directed control processes during retrieval include the termination of memory search. Ten experiments are proposed for the exploration of various aspects of these monitoring and control processes during acquisition and retrieval.